March 1, 2006 Mahwah, NJ and Munich, Germany -- ADVA Optical Networking announced that it is providing technology to ensure high-speed data transportation on the 4,000-km long PIONIER optical fiber network, part of Poland's nationwide Polish Optical Internet initiative and one of Europe's largest research networks.
According to a press release, ADVA has supplied the optical transmission technology for the network with its Fiber Service Platform (FSP) 3000 platform. The fiber-optic network is owned and managed by the Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC) and connects five supercomputer centers in Poland, in the cities of Poznan, Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Krakow, as well as 21 academic metropolitan area networks (MANs).
"Through the PIONIER program, we are prepared to take a leading position, Europe-wide, in terms of our optical network infrastructure," comments Maciej Stroinski, technical director of PSNC. "Linking academic MANs with the PIONIER network using systems from ADVA marks a milestone in Poland's development as an information society."
Installation and maintenance work on the PIONIER network is being carried out by Adva partner Alma, a Polish systems integrator. According to the release, 2,600 km of the optical network has been installed to date, while in a recent project phase an additional wavelength was added to the network's main backbone, for an additional 1,400 km of expansion.
The PIONIER research and education network's 10-Gigabit Ethernet speed enables researchers to operate and share bandwidth-intensive applications such as grid computing, distributed storage, distributed computing architectures, and optical virtual private networks (VPNs) in order to spur development of Poland's optical fiber network deployments. The network also provides a platform for distance learning and research applications for the country's universities. The network is connected to the GEANT2 pan-European research network and extends its connection to all neighboring academic networks, including the Deutsches Forschungsnetz (DFN) in Germany and CESNET in the Czech Republic.
"As a private, non-commercial project, PIONIER is unique throughout Europe, and the country is clearly focused on building a better future," concludes Brian P. McCann, ADVA's chief marketing and strategy officer. "Without a doubt, this dynamic, forward-looking initiative offers an inspiring example to companies and other organizations, and shows how tomorrow's challenges can be addressed by taking an open and flexible approach."